Someone very close to me (late twenties), with a history of past seizures (one or two), was found several hours after having what we think was [a] status epilepticus, in a pool of vomit and blood (the former of which he aspirated into his lungs). We don't know whether his heart stopped and started in the hours he was on his own, but he did go into cardaic arrest twice, once on the way to the hospital and once while there (for about 4-5 minutes). Since then, he has been on kidney dialysis as he went into renal failure, only opens his eyelids, does not react to external stimuli particularly voluntarily, does not speak or attempt to -or move, and we have been told that he has a 20% chance of waking up and having some semblance of a normal life, 40% chance of waking up and being institutionalised for the rest of his life, and 40% chance of never 'waking up' at all. This incident happened 3 weeks ago. I am aware that as time goes by without him waking up, the odds are increasingly stacked against him. (he is also on a PEG tube)

Could someone else give me a rough prognosis at all? | am aware things do not look good, but have been told this past weekend that he has been running a fever, which they apparently think might be because he is experiencing some pain; is this really a 'good thing', that his brain might be processing/responding to pain, by way of a fever?

I do not know at what stage they will start to really decrease his chances of any kind of recovery; 1 month? 3 months in this state?

I am not a family member, so am obviously not as informed as they are, but am getting this information relayed to me BY the family.

Could they ever, at any point, attempt to use the sleeping 'drug' Zolpidem, to try and wake him up at all? I have of course seen the stories about a percentage of PVS patients who woke up when they were administered with it.

Also, since his eyes are open and it is not therefore a coma, are people who suffer non-traumatic brain injury less likely to come out of a vegetative or minimally conscious state (I do not know, if any, which he is being classified as, since it has been a day or two over three weeks) than they are likely to come out of a full coma? I have heard of people recovering from an extended coma more often than I have heard of people coming out of a PVS.

Someone very close to me (late twenties), with a history of past seizures (one or two), was found several hours after having what we think was [a] status epilepticus, in a pool of vomit and blood (the former of which he aspirated into his lungs). We don't know whether his heart stopped and started in the hours he was on his own, but he did go into cardaic arrest twice, once on the way to the hospital and once while there (for about 4-5 minutes). Since then, he has been on kidney dialysis as he went into renal failure, only opens his eyelids, does not react to external stimuli particularly voluntarily, does not speak or attempt to -or move, and we have been told that he has a 20% chance of waking up and having some semblance of a normal life, 40% chance of waking up and being institutionalised for the rest of his life, and 40% chance of never 'waking up' at all. This incident happened 3 weeks ago. I am aware that as time goes by without him waking up, the odds are increasingly stacked against him. (he is also on a PEG tube)

Could someone else give me a rough prognosis at all? | am aware things do not look good, but have been told this past weekend that he has been running a fever, which they apparently think might be because he is experiencing some pain; is this really a 'good thing', that his brain might be processing/responding to pain, by way of a fever?

I do not know at what stage they will start to really decrease his chances of any kind of recovery; 1 month? 3 months in this state?

I am not a family member, so am obviously not as informed as they are, but am getting this information relayed to me BY the family.

Could they ever, at any point, attempt to use the sleeping 'drug' Zolpidem, to try and wake him up at all? I have of course seen the stories about a percentage of PVS patients who woke up when they were administered with it.

Also, since his eyes are open and it is not therefore a coma, are people who suffer non-traumatic brain injury less likely to come out of a vegetative or minimally conscious state (I do not know, if any, which he is being classified as, since it has been a day or two over three weeks) than they are likely to come out of a full coma? I have heard of people recovering from an extended coma more often than I have heard of people coming out of a PVS.

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